Mooneyes 26th YOKOHAMA JAPAN

 

Mooneyes Yokohama is the United Nations for all Custom builders worldwide. This year with six bikes from Indonesia and one Swedish killing the competition.

 

 

For a visitor nine hours of show crazy, Shige-San make such a big effort should be two days if possible. From my visits ’09, ’11, ’12 and this year I see that motor-cycles are dominating the show. Would like the bikes in one place instead of spread out. The work on each bike is so amazing, so I like to compare without running all over. Vendors could be outside of main event hall. Even some of the cars could be parked next to the building where there is a roof…

 

 

Adrenaline rush Sunday morning helping out Martin Carlgren the Swede with homebuilt chopper and motor! His day job drawing oil rigs and calculating stress on them at sea. In his free time he built this monster. The motor is NOT Husqvarna it is a SRM (SWEDISH RACE MOTORCYCLE). He found drawings from 1949 by racer Folke Mannerstedt and decided to make his own engine.

 

Some 67 years after the drawings the motor was started for the first time at BORN FREE 9. But in Yokohama big problems, a needle in the Amal carburetor broke just an hour before the roll in to the show. Sandpaper and hard work with good friends from USA still no start, shifted all the electric cables and Baroom a start. Great to see all the smiling faces from the rest of the bike building community, it really unites!

To see stock bikes from BMW Japan and H-D Japan was a surprise, show the power of Moon. Still the young audience are probably not buyers of expensive new bikes?! BMWs boss of design Swede Ola Stenegård brought his friends from UCC and Tolle to Japan. They were a part of the the R9T project smart move to take help from Swedish chopper builders to update boring BMW!

 

They even won best European bike.

 

 

Stance or Ryo Yamada came with a pink big Flathead and he gained the trophy from Blasters Italy and Martin RINGÖCHOPSHOP Sweden. He also became dealer of Vard front ends California. Will be interesting to see the competition with Swedish VARDHALLA sold by Jacksuns…!